PFG Advisors Lowers Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

PFG Advisors trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,676 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,484 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Accenture were worth $6,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Accenture by 18.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,247,000 after acquiring an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its position in Accenture by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,750 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,393,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 13.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 183,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,584,000 after buying an additional 21,516 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $19,007,000. Finally, First Long Island Investors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 27.8% during the first quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 65,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,778,000 after acquiring an additional 14,283 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $368.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $341.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $320.77. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $231.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.25.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The information technology services provider reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Accenture’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.29. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.21%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $371.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total value of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,161.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.82, for a total value of $1,649,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,989 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,751.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 8,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.05, for a total transaction of $2,696,402.25. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,849 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,161.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.